


Compromise

by Jam_sandwhich



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-03-21 12:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13741389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jam_sandwhich/pseuds/Jam_sandwhich
Summary: Richard and Jared are in high school. Jared's a cute boy. Richard is an in the closet horny teen. You know the drill.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was storming up an HC about Monica and Richard being brother and sister after ranting a bit about the forced love interest story line in s1 ep8. Then it got out of hand and everyone on the SV Squad discord encouraged me to write this. Thanks pals.

“Live a little, Dunn!” Monica slapped Jared’s arm as they walked down the pathway out of school. He flinched at her but realized this was a friendly hit; something Monica did to encourage Jared, not punish. He let out a soft chuckle. He wasn’t quite sure why, there wasn’t anything funny happening, “You’re not gonna make any new friends if you only go from your house to school and back.”

“How is this different? I’m going from my house to school to somebody else’s house.” 

Monica smiled at him, she’d walked right into that one. 

“It’s not really.” Monica kissed her teeth, feigning defeat, “but you’ll get to know me, your new friend, better. You can see how I live!” Jared wasn’t opposed to going over Monica’s house, it was just going to be difficult. Jared’s foster parents weren’t the most flexible people, which was odd because why would you take in somebody if you were rigid? Jared’s foster father always had something to do and it was built into a physical schedule. For every single day of each month his father would have each of his activities planned out from start to finish on his calendar. Jared thought life would be so unsatisfying if he knew everything that would happen every month. His foster mother moved more with the flow of her husband, but that didn’t change the fact that they’d still be booked. If Jared came home and sprung a surprise change of plans on them it’d be pointless, he already knew the answer: no. He was afraid of going for it and being shot down. He’d rather disappoint Monica now rather than later. It felt mean to lead her on even unintentionally. But that also felt hard to do. 

She was staring up at him with exaggerated puppy dog eyes. It was hard to say no to somebody who was trying really hard to please him; no matter how unappealing her facial expressions actually were. Jared’s heart was telling him to choose Monica’s house over talking golf with his foster father’s middle aged friends.

“Okay.” Jared gave in.

“Yes!” Monica pumped her fists in the air and rejoiced by doing an awfully embarrassing dance around Jared. The other kids were looking at them but Monica kept on dancing. That was the cool thing about her, she didn’t care for other people’s opinions of her, “You’re gonna have so much fun!”

“I don’t doubt it.” Jared chuckled, with a legitimate reason this time.

“Oh, we’re gonna get soda and pop tarts and fucking, uhhh…pizza!” Monica continued to list all the things Jared’s foster parents wouldn’t let him eat and it got him a bit excited. His foster mother insisted that sweets were the worst drug and his foster father just nodded along because he had a job and he could buy his twinkies himself. 

“Jared! What movies do you like? I can rent a bunch of DVDs!” 

“Oh, I don’t know. Whatever you want to watch.” Jared shrugged. Movies were also the devil in his household. Though his previous foster parents did let him watch old VHS tapes of the disney princesses. 

“We should watch Mean Girls! I’ve seen it at least 4 times! You’ll love it, we can point out all the ‘mean girls’ in our grade!” Then Monica froze. Slowly her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she let her jaw hang open. The first time Monica made this expression Jared thought she was having an aneurysm, but now Jared knows better: Monica was annoyed, “My brother, ugh. He’s gonna be home cause he only has three friends and mom and dad aren’t gonna let me kick him off the TV. Great, plan’s ruined.”

“Brother?” Jared’s only known Monica for three months but one would think that they should mention a sibling in month one. He had been functioning under the assumption that Monica was an only child just like him. 

“Oh yeah- the curly haired kid I talk to sometimes...? Not by choice of course.” Monica spiraled her finger over a lock of her long brown hair to imitate her brother’s. 

Jared tried to think about all the curly haired boys Monica had talked to with an annoyed tone throughout their time together. His mind drew a blank and the annoyed detail didn’t help either. She always looked like she was in pain when a male other than himself opened his mouth in her general vicinity. He just shrugged at her.

“It doesn’t matter, I’m gonna lock him out of the house anyways.” She rolled her eyes.

“No, no, no. We shouldn’t disturb your brother, he could even join us.” Jared smiled but the moment Monica heard no she had already made up her mind.

“He will not join us. Jared, you don’t know him, he’s so embarrassing. All he does is talk about video games and coding and ugh, it’s so uncool!” 

“Well I’d really feel quite bad if I was the reason why he had to leave his own home.” Jared did the half smile that made Monica feel a little bit bad for smack talking her brother, but, again, only a little bit. She just didn’t want to drive Jared away because he was the only real friend she’s had for a while and there’s little time left in senior year to make new good friends. Richard was just so annoying! 

“Okay, my brother can stay but he will not join us!” She established.

“Perfect. I’ll be there tomorrow.” Jared smiled. 

__________

“Richard is it possible for you to move the TV downstairs or in your room or something?” Monica pleaded from behind the couch. She wasn’t quite sure if he was listening. On several occasions he had told her that he learned to tune her voice out.

“No Monica, the TV stays where it is.” Her mother spoke from the kitchen.

“The TV stays where it is, Monica.” Richard repeated after his mother. It was incredibly annoying and he knew it. The time till Jared came over was seeping into the present quickly and Monica was the only one cleaning up while Richard sat on the couch playing video games obnoxiously loud. On top of that her mom put restrictions on everything she could clean up and her dad, for goodness sakes, was making a panini. He never made panini’s! He took out the panini maker just to piss her off. 

“Whatever, we’ll just stay in my room the whole time and never come out.” 

“Look at Moni using those problem solving skills.” Richard muttered without moving his eyes from the TV screen.

“I heard you asshole.” Monica spit, but Richard just rolled his eyes. He had no idea why she was so worked up about a friend coming over. When Dinesh and Gilfoyle came over no one even bothered to make the house look presentable. Sometimes the trash from the last time they were over would still be there. This guy must be rich or something. Maybe Monica is using him so she can get her prom ticket free of charge. Or maybe she thinks he’s cute and she’s trying to impress him. 

Richard felt his face get hot but tried to quickly stifle it. Monica’s taste in guys was probably gross. But that’s beside the point. Boys are for friendships and not dating. Richard wasn’t into guys. He was into girls, like the ones made out of pixels posing for him on his screen. That was what was hot to him. Then doorbell chimed.

“I’ll get it.” Monica announced as she moved from leaning over Richard to the door. 

“Hello Monica.” A soft deep voice moved itself through the room. Richard had to look over. Standing in the door frame was a tall slender man in a maroon sweater and loose fitting dark jeans. It didn’t even look like his dark hair was brushed in a swoosh to the left side of his head but instead naturally rested there. His shoulders slouched over his chest as if he was trying to make himself seem smaller. He was probably taller than Richard’s dad so way taller than Richard. What would it be like to be held in his arms?

“Richard!” 

“Huh! What? Yes?” Richard blinked back into the real world. Had he been staring at Monica’s friend? For how long? Oh god.

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself to Jared?” Monica snapped at him.

“Ah, yes, I’m Richard, Monica’s younger brother.” Richard gave Jared a side salute and instantly regretted it.

“Nice to meet you Richard.” Jared kindly smiled and extended his hand out to him. Richard met him with a handshake. His hands seemed so small and fragile compared to Jared’s. His fingers were long and slim just like the rest of his body. Does Richard have a hand fetish now?

“We’ll be in my room. Don’t be loud and obnoxious Richard.” Monica winked distastefully at him just before she led Jared down the hallway to her room. Richard wished he wasn’t so mean to Monica before. He prayed a different version of him made Monica breakfast and helped her clean the house. Maybe that Richard would have been invited in to watch the worst movie of the year with her. But it was not like he would have been paying attention, he’d be eyeing Jared to capture more of his beautiful features. 

“Fuck.” He whispered to himself.

__________

“Did you sneak out?” Monica smirked closing the door behind the two of them.

“I would never!” When Jared had gotten home the day before he told his foster parents exactly what he wanted to do. His uncle told him lying was Satan whispering in his ear right before he lost custody of Jared. Initially his foster father was against the idea since he had planned on taking Jared over Carl and Betty’s house to show off what he had learned on the piano. He wasn’t getting piano lessons currently but his aunt had taught him and his previous foster parents had encouraged it. On the other hand his foster mother was delighted. She had been egging him on to get along with her friends’ children who were much older than Jared. Jared thought she might be afraid his lanky body got in the way of him making friends so she needed to intervene. After a bit of arguing back and forth Duncan, Jared’s foster father, gave in and let Jared go over Monica’s. 

“Jared, I could totally see you sneaking out of your house on a weekday for a really cute guy.” Monica joked as she set up the movie. Jared blushed to himself.

“Not on a weekday, the stakes are too high on a school night.” 

“Mmmmm, but what if he was Seth Green levels cute?” Monica edged on.

“Oh! Well… if he asked me to follow him to the ends of the Earth… then I guess I’m running away.” Monica snorted at Jared’s joke as the display screen for Mean Girls appeared on the TV.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2000 words of anxiety basically. We'll get there eventually folks

After Monica and Jared disappeared Richard turned off his Playstation 2 and went immediately into his room. As soon as he got there he wanted to go back out, but he was afraid it would look weird. His mother always commented on how his indecisive pacing made her nervous and he didn’t want her paying attention to him. He knew why he made the decision to come into his room: he wanted to jerk off. But now he didn’t. His better judgement smacked him in the face and grabbed him by his hoodie to remind him who he was. It started chanting ‘you’re not gay!’ as soon as Richard locked his door. 

He thought of going to Gilfoyle’s house to get his mind off of Jared, but Gilfoyle told Bighead, Dinesh and him not to come over this weekend. Something about an ambiguous meeting. He thought of just walking there to walk back so he could clear his mind but nervous pacing came back into play. Bighead was away for the weekend so that didn’t help either. He thought of going to Dinesh’s house but decided against that because his dad hated last minute plans involving him driving somewhere. 

Richard took a seat at his desk and just stared out the window. The blue sky moved the clouds slowly above him. He took a couple of deep breaths and tried to center his mind. It’s fine Richard, don’t get freaked out over a couple of intrusive thoughts. Breathe. He unpacked some extra credit math problems which he intended to start, but he never did get that far. Sure he took out the sheet and a pencil but that was all he did before his mind wandered elsewhere. Jared wrapping his long arms around him as they lie in Richard’s bed. He imagined Jared playing with the curls in his hair while whispering dirty things against his neck. Suddenly Richard realized his hand was already against his crotch. The feeling was fueled by another guy but his better judgement was being drowned out by the volume of his desire.

He was still in his pants so he sloppily pushed them down to his knees. He kept feeling himself through his boxers, pressing the itchy fabric against him as he did. This was risky. His parents, his sister, and the guy he was jerking off to were in the same house as him. Sure he locked the door but if his mom tried the handle sirens would go off in her head. It would only take a bit of deduction to figure out all of Richard’s secrets. But he kept palming himself. What a tease. He was tired of it. He pulled down his boxers just barely below his balls. As he grips his dick in his shaky hands, he’s starts to have second thoughts. But he’s so horny now. He tries to shove the image of Jared out of his mind by shutting out his vision, yet every time he does the kind smiling blue eyes of Jared stare back at him. He spits into his hand and slicks up his dick signalling he’s too far gone now. Richard pumps his cock into his hand, jerking his hips up in his chair. It doesn’t take much, Richard was halfway to orgasm even before he started touching himself. 

He doesn’t leave his room until he hears Jared’s sweet voice wishing his family farewell.

__________

“He was such a sweet boy. Did you see the card he left?” Monica’s mother had been raving about Jared at the dinner table for 10 minutes almost. All of it being true and kind but god, give it a rest already. Her mother got up and brought the card to the table, Monica shook her head as she started to read it aloud, “‘Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks, thank you for the wonderful hospitality. Your daughter is a wonderful person, I am so glad I have her as a friend. Sincerely Jared, Donald, Dunn.’ Monica, do you hear that?”

“I’m sure she got it the first time you read the card, Hannah.” Her father interjects trying to signal that it’s time to move on from Jared but her mother keeps on going as if she heard nothing.

“‘Wonderful person!’ I think he likes you!” Her mother gushes which makes Monica laugh. If only she knew.

“I don’t think so, we’re just friends.” She playfully smirks. Out of the corner of her eye she notices Richard make a quick glance at her but quickly return to his food. Usually Richard takes pride in going on and on about his day at the dinner table but he’s been oddly quiet. Maybe the mashed potatoes and chicken are so good tonight that he has to stuff his mouth with food or maybe their mom isn’t taking a breath to let him interject and talk about himself.

“He’s such a nice boy, I hope you two stay friends at the least. Such a delight to have him over.” Her mom finishes, or so she hopes.

“It sounds like you want to adopt him.” Monica jokes.

“That sounds like a great plan, we could swap him out for Richard. I bet Jared would clean his room.” Her dad adds on.

“Or be respectful when someone in the house has a guest over.”

“Okay, I’m going to bed.” Richard abruptly stands up from his seat speaking his first words of the night. His face looks flushed and new bags are forming underneath his eyes.

“Oh, Richard, sweetie. Please don’t leave, they were only joking.” their mom nudges their dad, “Right Tom?”

“No, it’s not that.” Richard interjects before their dad can even open his mouth to apologize, “I’ve been feeling ahh- a little under… under the weather lately. I’m just gonna turn in.”

“Do you need me to take your temperature?” 

“No.” Richard says curtly turning out of the room down the hall to his own room. All her mother does is place a hand on her heart, feeling as if it’s all her fault her son is having a teenage scene. Her father motions his eyes for Monica to follow after her brother. She does so, but not without letting out a heavy sigh. 

Monica finds that Richard has preemptively locked his door knowing one of his family members would go after him. He knows he’s not supposed to lock doors but had done it anyways. She knocks. She hears him shifting in his bed; deciding whether to get the door or leave Monica waiting. Unfortunately for him Monica has little patience and reaches over the door frame for the allen wrench to open Richard’s door.

“What…? How did you get in?” Richard sits up abruptly from his bed. Monica flips the small allen wrench between her fingers as she closes the door. 

“I’m magic,” she smirks, “now do you want to tell me what’s the matter with you?”

“Uh- n-nothing’s wrong with me. I don’t understand why I can’t just get some extra rest without there being a problem.” Richard throws his hands up in the air with a little too much frustration.

“So to be clear you’re not at all bothered by the joke comparing you to Jared?” Monica sees Richard flinch again just like he did at the table. 

“No, what do I care? He’s just some guy.” 

“Just some guy?” Monica scoffs folding her arms. 

“What?” Richard hysterically chuckles. Monica has a hunch but she’s not quite sure about it. She thinks if she acts over the top she’ll get it out of him. If they were twins she wouldn’t even have to put so much effort into it, she would just know. But this is fine, this way she can see what color Richard turns when she throughly embarasses him. 

“He’s just some guys? Nothing more?”

“What? No… he’s your friend.” Richard gives her the side eye profusely blushing. 

“Nothing more to you, Richard?” Monica leans in even though they’re a good six feet apart, but just the effect and drama of it all is doing Richard in.

“Monica, what is this?” Richard starts to visibly sweat. Monica knows what’s going on here, her hunch was right. She starts to manically smile.

“Oh my god, oh my god, Richard!” Monica laughs getting way more excited than she ever thought she would from finding out who her brother has a crush on, “You like him!”

“Monica, shut up! You’re so loud!” He hisses at her looking away from her, “I do not like him, stop it.”

“Then just look at me and say it.” She teases still laughing. Richard tries to calm himself down and stares down Monica. She tries to stifle her laughter but her smile won’t go away.

“I do n- not- god damn it!” Richard curses throwing his fists into his lap. He jumps out of bed and at Monica. Covering her mouth to stifle the sound of her laughter from his room, “Monica stop, they’re going to come in here and I’m clearly not capable of lying.”

Monica tried to calm herself but she so called it. She wished she wasn’t so pissed off by Richard this morning to see the awe in his eyes when Jared walked into their house. He was probably leaning up against her bedroom door while they watched the movie, that’s why the living room was so quiet.

“Richard, you’re so ridiculous. You see one guy that isn’t bullying you or one of your friends and you’re in love?” 

“Monica, please, I’m not in love with him. He’s handsome and tall, I can’t just plainly admire other guys? This is not a crush I swear!” 

“Oh! So you don’t mind if I tell mom and dad and Jared that you admire his handsomeness?” Monica chirps. Richard immediately drops to his knees and places his hands over Monica’s feet.

“Please don’t tell anyone Moni, please, please, please!” Richard pleads from the ground. All the times Monica imagined Richard begging on the ground for her she thought it’d feel sweet, but it didn’t feel so good to hold this over his head. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he shook her ankles.

“Richard, I won’t tell anyone. I was only joking.” She grips his shoulder trying to comfort him in this extremely awkward position for the both of them. He slowly stands up, wiping his eyes before they make eye contact.

“Thank you.” He says softly so to stifle the cracks in his voice.

“Of course, I would never do something to put you in harms way.”

“Just please, please don’t tell him! I’m sure if I just don’t think about it the feeling will go away.” Monica wanted to tell Richard that it never went away. The jumps a heart makes once will repeat in one’s gut forever until the end of time unless they address their feelings head on. But it was something Richard had to figure out himself.

“I promise.”

__________

“You’re right Naomi is a spitting image of Gretchen.” Monica comments opening her locker. They had just walked by Naomi who was complimenting everything that Helen was doing even though she was just walking.

“I did not say she was a spitting image, they just share some of the same qualities.” Jared clarifies blushing a bit, he didn’t want anyone to hear him smack talking a classmate; something he never did. That was a quality he had picked up from Monica, a negative one but only on him. Monica didn’t care what her classmates thought of her so she talked about Naomi, Helen, George, and all the others as loud as she wanted. Jared, on the other hand, just wanted to keep a neutral stance in the entire social scene. It was his first year at this high school and last year of grade school after all.

“Mmmmm…” Monica jokingly disagrees. She says something to tease him but he kind of zoned out. He was focused on Monica’s brother approaching them slowly. He seemed to take one gingerly step forward but then two back making no progress at all. Three boys were behind him, one of whom Jared recognized from his calculous class, visibly annoyed by Monica’s brother being virtually frozen in place.

Jared saw the kid from calculus, Dinesh, say his name and angrily yell some profanity to get him to move. Richard, ah, that’s his name, turns to yell back at Dinesh but Jared doesn’t see his mouth move. He finally takes the initiative to move towards Monica and Jared.

“M- monica?” Richard timidly stutters. Jared’s chest constricts a bit as Richard has completely glazed over his existence but it’s nothing he isn’t used to. 

“What is it Richard?” She responds.

“Are you ready to go?” No stuttering this time but Richard is rapidly tapping his foot against the floor drawing more of Jared’s attention.

“Uh, yeah,” Monica says as she pulls the last book out of her locker, “We’re going to give Jared a ride home first and then go home.” Jared gives Richard a timid wave and Richard makes eye contact with him for the first time. Even his pupils are shaking in his eyes, everything about his is screaming anxiety. Jared wants to shrink down and make him feel safe; maybe it’s his height over Richard who is shorter than average. 

“I’ll take the bus home.” He finally spits out. Before Jared can tell Monica he’ll excuse himself to accommodate Richard, Richard has disappeared around the corner. His friends look even more exasperated than before and follow him deeper into the school.

“Oh, Monica, I’m so sorry.” Jared apologizes. It’s not like Richard can hear him so it doesn’t help the situation but it’s all Jared can do.

“It’s not your fault. I told you he was awkward.” Monica brushes off moving out of the school.

“Nobody can be that awkward.” Jared meant it endearingly but it still sounded like he was insulting Richard which made Monica laugh.

“He has a crush on you-” Monica immediately covered her mouth. Her face changes from relaxed to immediately panicked, “Ohmygosh, I did not just say that. Forget that!” Jared tried to do what Monica had asked but he felt something new in his stomach. The butterflies that everyone had been talking about, he thought, that’s what this is. A crush. No one had ever had a crush on Jared before. Usually he had gotten bullied for his looks. Kids on the playground used to call him ‘green giant’ which his previous foster parents changed to an endearing ‘BFG.’ It was nice but it still came from a bad place. Now somebody thought he was attractive. Or maybe Richard didn’t think that. Maybe it was his personality- but all they had said was hello. Oh, Jared’s mind was racing! All Jared could think about was Richard complimenting him and Jared saying thank you and then it spiraling out of control to Richard pushing Jared up against a wall. 

Oh Donald what are you doing? Having explicit thoughts about the brother of your closest friend in her own car? Monica had changed the subject 15 minutes ago but Jared was still stuck on her slip of the tongue. He lazily replied whenever she asked for validation but was not invested in anything she said. He was wondering whether to tell her he admired Richard too. How the first time they met Jared wanted to compliment his fiery scraggles and felt very inclined to invite Richard in with them despite Monica’s protests. But that seemed creepy. They had only met twice and had spent only a couple of minutes together in total. Jared didn’t want to be the creepy kid again so he pushed it out of his mind and engaged Monica until they arrived at his house.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm real sorry this took so long. I'm not gonna use any excuses but- just kidding I am! I had to do my research paper these past couple of months and you know how your hands feel after you type note card after note card and then a 13 page paper. Not good. Thanks for the patience all <3

His parents had requested for him to remove himself from his PS2 several times but Richard was still hunched over on the couch trying to finish the side quest he started 10 minutes before. Even if he did listen and get up all those hours ago what would he have done? He did his homework as soon as he got home Friday night, desperately trying to clog his mind with something other than Jared. Not only was it weird because his thoughts weren’t totally platonic, but he had no right to think about someone he had only talked to twice.  _ God, Richard, could you try to be social for once? _

 

“Richard, honey could you get that?” He hears his mom call to him.

 

“Get what?”

 

“The door, Richard.”  _ That’s annoying, _ he thinks getting up. Not only did he end up thinking about Jared despite being distracted but his thoughts were so loud he didn’t hear the door.  

 

Richard opens the door to the outside. It’s pouring rain which he didn’t notice either. It’s coming down so hard he can’t make anything out past the driveway. He remembers he’s answering the door and snaps out of it to stare straight up at Jared. Jared! 

 

“Uh, hi.” Richard flushes with embarrassment. Jared doesn’t seem to mind and smiles right back at him, though, without making eye contact.

 

“Hello, Richard. I am just stopping by to drop off this,” Jared pauses momentarily to reach underneath his green raincoat. He’s very tall, but not the tallest senior Richard has ever seen so it’s a bit odd that his jacket isn’t fitting him quite right.  _ It’s weird to inspect people, Richard _ , he tries to bring himself back yet again. And Jared’s already pulled out physics textbook from under his jacket, “It’s Monica’s, she let me borrow it.”

 

“Oh, uh, yeah” Richard replies, finally taking the book from Jared, “Thank you.” 

 

“Richard, honey, who was it?” His mom shouts from behind him, hurrying to the door, “Oh, Jared! Hello!”

 

“Hello, Mrs. Hendricks.” Jared greets. Richard guesses this is a conversation now; there’s no longer any option available that lets him slowly close the door on Jared. 

 

“Richard why didn’t you invite him in?” Richard opens his mouth to respond to his mother but Jared interjects. Which is good because whatever sentence he was going to stumble over was only going to make the whole ordeal a whole lot more awkward. 

 

“Oh, no it’s fine, I’m only here to drop off something of Monica’s.”

 

“Jared, I can’t believe Monica hasn’t told you that the thing I hate most next to fried twinkies is being refused. Come on in.” She smiles moving Richard out of the doorway to make an entrance for Jared. He caves and comes into the house, “I’m going to fix something up for you, you always look too skinny.”

 

As Jared removes his shoes he shrugs innocently to Richard. Richard so desperately wants to engage Jared and apologize through a witty joke for possibly making him feel uncomfortable, but he can’t. The feeling of self doubt swells in his stomach so instead he takes Monica’s book and turns down the hall silently. 

__________

 

For the first time in a month Richard wanted nothing more than to sit in bed and let his thoughts run wild for the rest of the afternoon but his mother demanded that he sit with Jared while she made lunch. It’s not that he doesn’t want to be around Jared, he just doesn’t want to be around Jared flustered. But he’s here, sitting quietly at the dinner table, knowing better than to fill the silence and embarrass himself. As a result, it’s been super awkward thus far. 

 

“So, where is Monica?” Jared asks trying to break the ice between them.

 

“On a college tour with her friends… she’ll be out all weekend.” 

 

“I guess you’ll just have to spend all your freetime stuck with me.” Richard darts his head up in alarm but Jared waves his hand to signal he was only joking, “I didn’t really mean that, I wouldn’t want to bog you down.”

 

“That’s not...There’s no need to- hanging out with you wouldn’t bother me.” Richard says after a couple moments of reassuring himself that’s a totally okay thing to say to somebody he barely knows. 

 

“It’s not like you had a choice, anyways.” Jared’s voice sounds dejected; almost as if deep down he doesn’t really mean it but he’s trying to convince himself of it by saying out loud.

 

“No really, even if my mom didn’t drag me out of my room.” Richard feels Jared’s touched smile warm his heart, in fact the room feels at least 60% warmer since Jared started smiling at him.

 

“Lunch time boys.” Richard’s mother places two tuna melts down on the table between the both of them, breaking the moment.

 

“Thank you Mrs. Hendricks.”

 

“Yeah, thanks mom.”

 

“It’s no problem, there’s nothing I want to do more than provide for my two favorite boys.” Richard cringes at his mother’s assertive possession over their far too kind guest who feels the need to bow his head at this comment that’s the furthest thing away from a compliment.

 

“Please mom, you’re acting as if Jared is going to be your second son.”

 

“How do I know he isn’t already?” She leans in over her placemat creepily awaiting Jared’s answer. Richard feels his face heat up with embarrassment but it’s too late to protest now. They both turn towards Jared waiting for a response, but he’s too busy horking down his sandwich, “Jared, honey?”

 

“Please excuse me.” Jared apologizes in between hiccups. 

 

After snapping out of her daze of confusion Mrs. Hendricks excuses herself from the table.

 

“I have to pick up your father so I’ll be gone for a while because you know how talkative your he is.” both Richard and his mother roll their eyes as she reaches for her keys and jacket, “It was nice seeing you again Jared.”

 

“Thank you again for lunch.”

 

“Anytime.” She closes the front door and with that Jared and Richard are alone. 

 

Richard feels relieved. He won’t have to worry about anybody nudging Jared to speak kindly of his sister which, frankly, is uncomfortable. No guest should have to come into a home feeling like they need to earn a reason for being there. His mother is so absurdly rude sometimes. If Monica and Jared say they are just friends then his mother should let it be. He knows she’s anxious about Monica not having a boyfriend yet but she’ll find a nice guy in time. And if they are lying and are seeing each other behind Richard’s back then they’ll reveal that eventually. But the idea of Monica and Jared kissing in the back of her car makes Richard sick so he hopes the former is true.

 

“Ummm, you wanna play video games?” Richard proposes. Jared’s face lights up instantly.

 

“You have video games?” He jumps, half choking on a pickle from his sandwich.

 

“Yeah, it’s 2005, everyone has video games.” Richard scoffs.

 

“That’s right, how silly of me. Sometimes I forget not everyone has my uncle Jerry in their family. He told me the consoles listened to the house while I played and we couldn’t have that.” Richard gives Jared a hard stare just to make sure this is real. When all he gets back in response is Jared’s plain pink smile he moves off the table and beacons for Jared to follow him. 

__________

 

Richard had continued playing Final Fantasy as Jared finished off the rest of Richard’s lunch. He wasn’t very hungry and it was clear that Jared needed it more than him. Everytime he attacked something he could see Jared wince in his peripheral vision. When Jared finished eating Richard decided to take the game out, it wasn’t 2 player anyways.

 

“What do you want to play?” Richard picks up a handful of games and shows each of them to Jared. He passes up on Grand Theft Auto, Battlefront, and Spider-man before choosing Katamari Damacy. 

 

Richard reluctantly puts the game in to give Jared an out to pick almost any other game. Their parents had scolded Richard for ‘hogging’, Monica’s words, the TV for his video games. He had proposed Monica get her own game to play if she was so worried about the amount of time he was spending on his own. But Richard had stupidly forgotten that Monica was his sister and they came from the same two people meaning they each got a portion of their mother’s stubbornness. Monica really did go out to the GameStop and sure enough come back home with a copy of Katamari Damacy. And to top it all off, she loved it and Richard got a taste of his own medicine. 

 

He never touched the game, out of spite, and now here Jared was asking all too politely for them to play it. He had a hard time saying no, mostly because he had a hard time saying much of anything to Jared without tripping over words.

 

When they got to the homescreen Richard walked Jared through the multitudes of options. 

 

“Okay, you can play make a star mode or together we can play two-player mode.” Richard moved the analog sticks on the controller moving the Little Prince to different places on the globe. Jared seemed more caught up in the animation than the options Richard had given him. Starting off with video games might have been too overwhelming.

 

“I wish I could fly like the Little Prince,” Jared says to no one in particular despite Richard being the only other person in the house. Richard responds anyways.

 

“That sure would be handy, I wouldn’t have to ask Monica for a ride everywhere or take the bus.” 

 

“I would have had so much more energy if I could have flown here instead of walked.” Jared says breathlessly.

 

“You walked?” Richard has to turn away from the screen to see if Jared was pulling his leg or not. Since Gilfoyle had walked into his life, Richard could no longer trust tone alone. But Jared wore the same half smile as he did when he came in. 

 

“Yes.” He says plainly.

 

“Isn’t that, like, a lot of walking?”  _ Nice way to put it, Hendricks _ .

 

“I just really don’t want to bother my foster parents unnecessarily.” Jared senses the discomfort in Richard’s tone but doesn’t look back at Richard and keeps his eyes on the screen. Richard shoves himself against the couch, he shouldn’t pry if he doesn’t want this to be anymore awkward. 

 

Richard makes the executive decision to choose two-player mode for the both of them.

 

__________

 

They played multiplayer for what seemed like hours. Laughing with each other and Jared laughing at Richard kind of screaming at to get his katamari as big as Jared’s before time ran out. Jared won every single time except for the round Jared let him win. Richard insisted he not and Jared insisted he didn’t but they both knew he had. 

“Okay, I’m done.” Richard mopes. tossing his controller aside, “I can’t play this anymore, I’m tired of losing.”

 

“You just have to try a little harder, Richard, I know you can win another round.” 

 

“Fat chance. We’ve played 30 rounds of this and you’ve won all of them.”

 

“Except for one!”

 

“Jared, admit it, you’re better than me.” Richard smiles up at him from his slumped position on the couch. Jared can feel the blood rushing to his ears.

 

“But you’re good of plenty of stuff. Monica tells me all the time about how well you’re doing in all your classes, for the exception of art.” Richard furrows his brows at Jared, making him concerned that he’s made a mistake, “She only tells me because I ask!” Jared tries to save himself but Richard comes off as even more confused.

 

“You ask about me?” Richard’s voice hitches at the end of his sentence but Jared takes no notice. He’s turning red again. He can’t believe he’s cornered himself in this near confession. In past situations this would have been the end for Jared, not that he’s ever gotten as far as playing video games with his crush before. Jared always got the wrong impression, gotten his feelings in front of the truth and prematurely given himself away. Even when it was a girl his love was never reciprocated. His previous foster parents, who dealt with his junior high emotions, often consoled him by saying he was too young to really be in love and those who he gave his ‘love’ to were too young to understand the weight it carried. Jared always nodded and smiled, pretending to move on, but it never really helped. Each time he told himself he would never out his love again but here he was, on the Hendricks’ couch with Richard sitting besides him anxiously waiting for an answer. 

 

“Because I admire you.” He finally spits out, “You’re such a strong soul, I can sense it; that’s everything I want to be. That’s why I ask about you.”

 

“Oh Jared...” Richard breathily whispered turning just as pink as Jared had.They stare at each other for a moment, both thoroughly embarrassed but also intrigued by the moment; then Jared’s watch goes off.

 

_ Beep beep _

 

“Oh, I need to get home! It’s so late.” Jared straightens himself up on the couch no longer looking at Richard. It was 5:30 in the afternoon and Jared was not going to be on time for his 6 o’clock dinner. 

 

“Right.” Richard pulls back as well to adjust his hoodie.

 

“I’m so sorry Richard.” Jared to gets up to head for the door, “Can you please thank your mother for the lunch and the hospitality and also your father. And thank you.”

 

“Yeah sure… but uhh, wait, you can’t walk back, it’s raining even harder now.” Richard follows Jared to the front door and starts to slip his own shoes on.

 

“No, you can’t come with me Richard, that won’t solve anything.” 

 

“How about we take the bus together? I bet Monica left her pass here, she wouldn’t need it out of state.” Before Jared can protest Richard is gone down the hall and turned into Monica’s room. As quickly as he disappears he’s back at Jared’s side and ready to go.

 

“Richard, you really don’t have to do this. If I jog I can make it in time.”

 

“I can’t have you slipping and falling in the rain, can I?” Jared looks like he’s going to open his mouth, “It’s a rhetorical question but the answer is ‘no.’” And with that Richard opens the door and invites Jared out into the rain.

 

__________

The 30 minute ride on the bus feels too short and they both wave goodbye to each other wanting more time. The hours spent eating, playing, and chatting with one another still doesn’t satisfy Richard; nor do the minutes he spends looking back on it. He wishes they started talking earlier; instead of turning away from Jared when he was invited in, that he told his joke at his mother’s expense. Richard wished he jumped into Jared’s lips before his watch went off, there was at least 10 seconds to do so. 

  
It’s already January and Jared will be gone soon and Richard has been wasting his time being awkward. Well he’s done with self doubt and getting flustered, he’s gonna go for it, the next time he sees Jared- _I mean it depends where I am… I can’t do it at school_ \- the next time he sees Jared in a secluded area! He’s gonna do it… or at least he hopes he will.


End file.
